Some recent news highlights...
* Pope Benedict reminds that caring for the poor is the work of individuals motivated by charity and cannot be replaced by the State.
* The Pope's brother has admitted that he slapped boys in the face when he was choirmaster, even though he says it made him feel uncomfortable ("At the start, I also slapped people in the face but I always had a bad conscience about it"). He said that although he physically punished them (administered "clips round the ear" which was "a standard response at the time to failure or misbehaviour"), he felt it never rose to the extent of abuse. He also says he was "happy when in 1980 corporal punishment was banned by law". Although he indicated that he had no knowledge regarding cases of s*xual abuse, he admitted the following regarding allegations of physical abuse: "Pupils told me on concert trips about what went on. But it didn't dawn on me from their stories that I should do something. I was not aware of the extent of these brutal methods" and said "If I had known about the excess of force he was using, I would have said something". He also asked the victims for forgiveness.
* Ridiculous: Female activists in the Philippines recently delivered baskets of c*ndoms to the bishops, "humbly" asking them to "bless the c*ndoms as a conciliatory gesture to unite for reproductive health and women's rights" [Note: For information on the immorality of contraceptives, click here]
* Crazy: The sister who provides free needles to drug abusers (and calls it "common sense") has been awarded by Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York and Bishop Howard Hubbard for her decades of "service" to Catholic Charities. The free needle program, which is at least partially funded by Catholics' donations, has been criticized for providing formal cooperation in evil. "It is never allowed, even for a good intention to do a thing that is bad in itself." (Baltimore Catechism)
* Still more ridiculousness: In all 50 states, 'same-sex couples' can apparently claim "married" status on U.S. Census forms
* Cardinal Levada has affirmed that "union with the Catholic Church is the goal of ecumenism". Pope Benedict also recently affirmed that conversion is the ultimate goal of ecumenism
* Some good news: Catholics in the Netherlands have launched a petition protesting the decision allow open homosexuals to receive Holy Communion. The decision - which violates Canon 915 and fails to protect the Sacred Host - came after homosexual activists engaged in protests. 1983 Code of Canon Law, Can. 915: "Those who have been excommunicated or interdicted after the imposition or declaration of the penalty and others obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to holy communion."
* Almost funny: A Vatican Radio editor who has written a book on President Obama and faith has recently made reference to "the merit of Obama in having brought faith back to the center of the agenda of the Democratic Party". Comment: Faith is "back at the center of the agenda"? Must have missed that memo!
* A member of the Pontifical Academy for Life who signed the recent letter concerning the abortion controversy involving the Academy's President has asked a Vatican spokesman it issue a clarification asserting that the letter was not an official request for their leader's resignation, but was rather a "clarification of important facts and to correct the false impression of unity conveyed to the press on Feb. 12 by our President"
* Archbishop Chaput has offered further justification for the decision to prevent a student being raised by lesbians to reenroll in a Catholic school. He noted that "If parents don’t respect the beliefs of the Church, or live in a manner that openly rejects those beliefs, then partnering with those parents becomes very difficult, if not impossible" and affirmed that "The main purpose of Catholic schools is religious; in other words, to form students in Catholic faith, Catholic morality and Catholic social values." He also reminded that "Our schools...exist primarily to serve Catholic families with an education shaped by Catholic faith and moral formation" and said that "If Catholics take their faith seriously, they naturally follow the teachings of the Church in matters of faith and morals; otherwise they take themselves outside the believing community"
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